DistroWatch Weekly

A weekly opinion column and a summary of events from the distribution world

DistroWatch Weekly

DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 134, 16 January 2006

Welcome to this year's third issue of DistroWatch Weekly. Several interesting announcements at last week's MacWorld provided fuel for many technology web sites, but an important question remained unanswered: will Linux run on the new MacBooks? Read on for an expert opinion. A rather quiet week on the Linux distribution front, but expect things to pick up shortly as the second test of Fedora Core 5 will be officially out today (Monday), while the first beta of SUSE Linux 10.1 should appear on mirrors later this week. Also in this issue: Fedora or Yellow Dog for your Mac, Xandros seeks beta testers, Debian terminology explained, news from the development of Dapper Drake, a new SUSE-based distribution for musicians, GParted Live CD for all your disk partitioning tasks, and a good round-up of popular Linux live CDs. Happy reading!

Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in ogg (5.46MB) or mp3 (6.52MB) format(courtesy of Shawn Milo).Join us atirc.freenode.net #distrowatch

It was an exciting week for the fans of computer hardware. Apple, one of the most influential and innovative computer company in existence has finally revealed what not so long ago many thought would never happen: a new generation of Apple computers powered by a processor from Intel. As always, any change of this magnitude is bound to cause an enormous amount of controversy followed by endless discussions on many Apple fan sites. Bold statements such as "MacBook Pro is up to four times faster than PowerBook G4" only added fuel to these debates.

But why are we discussing Apple computers on a web site dedicated to open source software? Well, one of the most intriguing aspects of the new Intel-based Macs is the fact that they have a potential to run Mac OS, Windows and Linux, the three most widely-used desktop operating systems natively, in a triple-boot setup. This is a feature that will excite a certain segment of the market, especially power users and software developers. Although these machines carry the usual high price tag for the premium Apple brand, it is likely that the attraction of the system will prove too irresistible for quite a few computer users.

Unfortunately, things are somewhat complicated by the fact that neither the current versions of Windows, nor any of the main Linux distributions will boot on these new MacBooks. With Windows being closed source and proprietary, it will probably take a while before a third-party develops a shareware tool providing a method to install Windows XP/2000 on Apple's new computers. With Linux, things are different and a solution is likely to be available very soon after these notebooks hit the streets. Any guesses which distribution will be the first with a rushed out press release claiming to be the only one that boots on MacBook Pro?

If you are wondering why none of the current Linux distributions will boot on these system, let's quote an expert. Answering the question "Is Fedora prepared for Intel-based Macs?", Red Hat's Peter Jones had this to say on the Fedora development mailing list: "No. Off the top of my head: our x86 kernels don't have CONFIG_EFI; installer doesn't do GPT partitioning on x86; we don't have a bootloader for them."

Trying to translate the above into plain English, the main problem with MacBook Pro is that it no longer uses BIOS (Basic Input/Output System); instead, it ships with the new EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface), developed by Intel, to perform all the early communication between different hardware parts. Although EFI does have BIOS emulation support, Apple has reportedly decided to remove it from their MacBooks.

The second issue is GPT (which stands for GUID Partition Table, with GUID being an acronym for Globally Unique Identifier), which is effectively a replacement for the MBR (Master Boot Record) in EFI-based systems. Among the popular boot loaders, neither LILO, nor GRUB 0.9x support GPT, although the new GRUB 2 (currently in alpha development) does include support for the new standard. Unfortunately, not a single Linux distribution has been bold enough to switch to GRUB 2, but it is possible that more effort will go into this area in the coming months, especially if EFI-based motherboards become widespread.

Of course, none of these problems are insurmountable and it is very likely that Fedora, Mandriva, SUSE and Ubuntu will all have full support for the MacBook Pro soon after these new Apple laptops start shipping.

The introduction of Intel-based Macs means that the popularity of computers with PowerPC chips on the consumer desktop is likely to drop sharply in the coming years. This doesn't mean, however, that Linux distributions designed for these chips will suddenly stop being developed; in fact, research suggests that Macs tend to have longer lives than most PCs, so it's safe to assume that many users will continue deploying Linux on their Apple computers. Most of today's major distributions (with the exception of Mandriva) provide PowerPC editions of their latest products, while Yellow Dog Linux from Terra Soft Solutions continues as the only specialist distribution for the PowerPC architecture. Based on Fedora Core, but enhanced to support many features of modern Macs, Yellow Dog is certainly a good choice. If you are still undecided, Low End Mac has a good article explaining the differences between Fedora Core and Yellow Dog Linux.

Xandros Corporation has announced the start of a new beta testing period for the company's popular desktop operating system. While the release date and feature list of Xandros Desktop 4 remain a secret, based on the distribution's previous releases, we can expect a good-looking KDE 3.5 desktop enhanced by the Xandros file manager, integrated CD burning tool and the usual great support for network drives. Xandros beta testing periods normally last for around 3 - 4 months, so we can speculate that the final release will happen at some point in April or May. Testing Xandros Desktop can be a lot of fun and the company tends to reward the most valuable bug reports and feedback with free copies of the final release. If you have a spare machine and are interested in giving the new product a good scrutiny, then fill in this form and pray that you'll be one of the chosen few.

There seems to be increasing interest in specialist distributions designed for musicians, composers and other freedom-loving artists many of whom might prefer to compose and edit their music with Free Software. Most of our readers will know about A/Demudi, Musix and Studio 64, but a new alternative, called JackLab and based on SUSE Linux, has been launched recently: "JackLab is a fast digital audio workstation with an audio realtime kernel and professional tools for music production." Besides providing kernel optimisation, audio drivers and specialist software for musicians, one of the project's stated goals is to introduce user-friendly ways to manage and setup the system through YaST, so that even non-technical users can take advantage of the product. There isn't much to download just yet, but interested users might want to follow JackLab's development on its web site, forums and also on openSUSE.org.

If you are new to the complex world of Debian GNU/Linux and puzzled by its terminology as used on the mailing lists and referred to in many reviews, here is a good article that explains it all: Drag's Guide to Debian Variations. The article discusses the distribution's venerable package management system before delving into the topics of Debian branches, repositories, mirrors, archives, ports and architectures. Somewhat erroneously the article states that "Debian does not distribute full CDROM sets" due to the overhead associated with distributing software packaged by the largest Linux distribution project. This is incorrect; in fact this page lists no fewer than 124 mirrors around the world that host the CD and DVD ISO images for each processor architecture of the latest Debian release. Besides this small error, the article is a decent attempt to help you develop fluency in "Debian speak".

What is new in the development of Ubuntu Linux 6.04 "Dapper Drake"? If you are tracking the project's development branch then you are probably aware of all the interesting enhancements, but if not, here is a couple of links (with screenshots) that describe some of the new features: What's New in Dapper #1 and What's New in Dapper #2. These are essentially just cosmetic changes affecting the GNOME panel and the logout menu. As always, some of the enhancements will not please all users, so if you dislike something or have a better idea about implementing a certain feature, join in the discussion and let your voice be heard!

Euronode, a French company developing a range of Debian-based specialist servers for various tasks, has introduced an interesting concept of creating custom bootable ISO images of their products. After registering on the project's web site, users can follow a simple web-based wizard to build a pre-configured server, tailor-made for their exact needs. Once done, the web site will generate a bootable ISO image, with all configuration and server parameters already set up. The service is not free, but the ISO images generated with the help of the wizard include a 30-day trial period so that you can test it out before parting with any cash. Find more information at Euronode.org.

Which is the best Linux live CD? As usual, there is no simple answer and many of us have a personal favourite or two to carry around, just in case we come across a computer with that other operating system. InformIT, a popular online reference site for IT specialists, has tested a number of popular live CDs, including Elive, SimplyMEPIS, SLAX, Damn Small Linux, Knoppix, Puppy Linux, Ubuntu, LG3D and INSERT. This is a good selection of live distributions for all kinds of purposes, accompanied with a brief description of each. If you are new to the world of Linux live CDs and DVDs, this is a good introductory article.

First looks: Fedora Core 5 Test 2

First looks: Fedora Core 5 Test 2

After a fairly slow start of the year, many distributions are becoming rather busy with preparations for their next stable versions. Fedora Core 5, currently scheduled for release on 15 March, will be one of the first major distribution releases of 2006, so it's fair to assume that some two months before the final release, its development process has entered a fairly advanced and reasonably stable stage. But Fedora 5 will be an important release for another reason - if Red Hat continued with its stated goal of producing a new Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) version in roughly 18-month intervals, then it means that the upcoming RHEL 5 will be based on the code from Fedora 5. CentOS and other RHEL clones are also likely to watch this release closely.

What's new in Fedora Core 5? Following the recent logo changes, the entire visual aspect of the desktop, including the theme, wallpaper, screensaver and logo have been revamped "to demonstrate the exciting user friendly nature of Fedora". Test2 comes with kernel 2.6.14, X.Org 7.0, a recent development version of GNOME 2.13, KDE 3.5.0, Firefox 1.5, and OpenOffice.org 2.0.1, just to name a few major applications. The much publicised inclusion of the Mono development suite has turned out to be correct, with Mono 1.1.12 now present in this test release of Fedora Core for the first time. For international users, SCIM input method has replaced IIIMF. The entire set of Fedora packages is now built using the yet-to-be-released GCC 4.1, which, according to the release notes, "brings in new security and performance enhancements".

The installer has also undergone significant changes. Surprisingly, the left pane providing information about each step of the installation process is gone, while the partitioning stage of the Anaconda installer has also been altered considerably. If you are used to installing Fedora and other Fedora-based distributions with your eyes closed, then you'd be wise to pay close attention during the partitioning step of FC5Test2, where the default is "Remove linux (sic) partitions on selected drives and create default layout", with all disks selected by default! One other change - the SELinux configuration has been moved to the post-install stage, so don't panic if you don't see it in its usual place.

Overall, I can't say I am particularly impressed with the changes in Anaconda. It still remains one of the best and most intuitive Linux installers available today, but I found some of the changes slightly discomforting - why the sudden change of what worked so well for many years? On the other hand, my first impressions of the newly installed systems were overwhelmingly positive. A more detailed look at Fedora Core 5 Test2 will follow in the Thursday edition of Linux Weekly News; in the meantime, take a look at this sneak preview of Fedora Core 5 and read this comprehensive review at Mad Penguin.

Released Last Week

STX Linux 1.0

The first stable release of STX Linux is out. Major changes since RC3: "Three packaged patches from the download page applied; installer corrected for creating an fstab that allows normal users to mount CDROM and floppy drives; the usual package updates; included Elleo's hacked eworkpanel with notification area; included recompiled pyfltk (XFT font rendering now also in STXCC); GTK 2 and EDE themes switched to STX for a more uniform appearance; included gnome-cups-manager for printer administration (more common than the CUPS web front-end); included Requiredbuilder for creating dependency files for Slackware / STX packages." Visit the project's news page to find out more about the release.

tinysofa classic server, a server-oriented distribution originally forked from Trustix Secure Linux, has received a new update: "tinysofa classic server 2.0 Update 3 (Ceara) is now generally available. This release focuses on bug fixes, integrates all released security fixes, and updates various packages to the more recent upstream releases. 'Ceara' features: the Linux 2.6.13 kernel, grsecurity support, APT and SmartPM for advanced package management, the next generation PHP 5 environment (5.0.4), OpenSSH 4.2, high availability features such as DRBD (0.7.14) and UCARP (1.1), the latest development tools and languages (GCC 3.4.3, Python 2.4), and much more." The full release announcement can be found on the project's home page.

Ultima Linux LiveCD

The developers of Ultima Linux have released a live CD edition of their Slackware-based distribution: "The Ultima Linux LiveCD is a complete Ultima desktop system squeezed into a 544MB CD. It contains everything that you've come to expect from Ultima Linux, including: a complete, modern KDE desktop with Mozilla Firefox web browser, Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail client, OpenOffice.org office suite, AbiWord Personal word processor, The GIMP image manipulation program, XMMS digital audio player, complete networking support, effortless to use - just stick in the CD and reboot!" Find more information of the distribution's LiveCD page.

Nonux 2.2

A new version of Nonux, a Dutch Slackware-based distribution with Dropline GNOME designed for office use, has been released. Some of the more important enhancements include: upgrade to Linux kernel 2.6.14.5; upgrade to GNOME 2.12.2; upgrade to OpenOffice.org 2.0.1; upgrade to Evolution 2.4.2.1; integration of email notification applet into task bar; improvements to hard disk installation script; updates to boot loader to detect and configure system for dual booting with Windows. More details are available in the release announcement on the project's home page (in Dutch).

Trinity Rescue Kit. Trinity Rescue Kit (TRK) is a bootable Linux distribution aimed specifically at offline operations for Windows and Linux systems such as rescue, repair, password resets and cloning. It has custom tools to easily recover deleted files, clone Windows installations over the network, perform antivirus sweeps with two different antivirus products, reset windows passwords, read and write on NTFS partitions, edit partition layout and much much more. Trinity Rescue Kit is mostly based on Mandriva Linux and heavily adapted start-up scripts.

Truva. Truva Linux is a new Turkish distribution based on Slackware Linux.

* * * * *

New distributions added to the waiting list

DIY Linux. DIY Linux is a research project dedicated to those 'Do It Yourself' Linux enthusiasts who would rather build their own GNU/Linux system from source code than run a pre-compiled binary distribution. The intended audience is the more technically adept Linux user.

Dreamlinux. Dreamlinux is a new desktop-oriented Brazilian distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux and Morphix.

GParted LiveCD. GParted LiveCD is a Slackware-based mini distribution with the sole purpose of making it easy to partition one's hard disk. It uses XFree86's Xvesa, the lightweight Fluxbox window manager, and the latest 2.6 Linux kernel.

JackLab. JackLab is an initiative to design a specialist SUSE-based distribution for music production.

Kya Linux. Kya Linux is a Linux live CD based on Slackware and SLAX. It is developed at the Universidade Estadual do Ceará in Brazil.

That's all for today. The next issue of DistroWatch Weekly will be published on Monday, 23 January 2006. See you then :-)

Ladislav Bodnar

Reader Comments

1 • Typo (by Fritz on 2006-01-16 09:57:01 GMT from United States)
"a couple of links (with screenshots) that describe some of the new features: What's New in Dapper #1 and What's New in Dapper #1"

I think you meant #2.

Otherwise, a great write-up, as usual.

-> Fritz2 • Cheers & Thank you! (by Soloact on 2006-01-16 10:00:05 GMT from United States)
Thank you for including Trinity Rescue Kit, I've been trying to repair an NTFS drive (yeah, I know) to retrieve backed up data. I can usually do this with Linux, but haven't been able to lately. This is another tool that I can try.3 • New Fedora (by Anonymous on 2006-01-16 11:01:16 GMT from Germany)
Yes, it looks very promising. New and soft ocean-look everywhere, Beagle integrated, new Anaconda and heavily improved software management for noobs. Great. I guess mirrors will melt once the isos hit the market. :)

BTW: The new Ubuntu dialogues are pretty ugly. :D4 • Thanks and a nomination (by Mark South at 2006-01-16 11:56:26 GMT from Switzerland)
Distrowatch Weekly is still the highlight of my Monday, even on thin-news days.

May I nominate Puppy Linux for a Distrowatch award? Barry and his team have started from nothing and built it into one of the most interesting and innovative Linux distros.5 • Trinity Rescue Kit (by brodders on 2006-01-16 12:39:37 GMT from United Kingdom)
A plug for TRK...

TRK features a "local scripting" option. The idea is, you want to back a machine up, you keep a local _on PC_ bash script for whatever your backup scheme is (tar compress and send files to a server say) in a .trk subfolder.

TRK is a live CD & checks for the local script on boot.

The backup task for staff is now "At end of day, put in TRK CD, reboot and walk away." TRK sits there & does it stuff, as needed for that machine. It's so simple for them - they might even do it!

I would like to see a review of the lastest netbsd please.7 • I wonder... (by Kim Krecht on 2006-01-16 13:04:05 GMT from Germany)
...what Mad Penguin actually reviewed. Judging from the so-called FC5test2 screenshots, it wasn't FC5test2. :) Also, the mirror the reviewer uses leaves scratching heads ("4.90")...

I look forward to seeing *nix on mactel stuff soon!9 • JackLab (by Anonymous Penguin on 2006-01-16 13:42:19 GMT from Italy)
Actually this project seems to have something quite interesting also for "ordinary users", namely a 2.6.15 kernel for SUSE 10.0, optimized for sound.One of my major issues with SUSE 10.0 has been that my sound card doesn't work properly. But of course this kernel should improve sound from many points of view.10 • Apple on Intel so what? (by Scott WIlson on 2006-01-16 14:45:40 GMT from United States)
So Apples works on Intel processors. What is going to change, how is this going to effect the market, the Apple share my grow a liittle depends on price of the units. Will Intel OS X kill Linux? No, Apple is tying the OS to Apple hardware. So don't expect a Dell or HP with OS X. Folks the Linux/BSD market is going to be wide open by the end of the year, All new hardware for Apples OSX or all new Hardware plus update subscribtions for Windows Vista. Get your Linux skills tuned up!11 • FC5 Test 2 Download link? (by Max on 2006-01-16 14:52:55 GMT from Netherlands)
Someone got a FC5 Test 2 Download link?12 • Great DWN but, more about BSD please! (by Kensai on 2006-01-16 15:02:38 GMT from Puerto Rico)
I anounced in the latest DWN that I would move from Linux to FreeBSD, well I have done so since that very day and I must say FreeBSD is different in many ways to Linux you can almost feel like you are starting all over again but man after figuring all out I love this OS. FreeBSD has become my main and only Operating System now. It took me almost a week to figure all things out but the handbook is great. Now I'm running FreeBSD 6.0-Stable branch with kde 3.5 and I can do everything, no wonder why distrowatch is powered by FreeBSD, they are the best. And please if you try FreeBSD don't go to ##freebsd asking without reading the handbook first you would be greatly ignored.13 • live cd distros (by william m johnson on 2006-01-16 15:09:50 GMT from United States)
The fact is that the vast majority of live cds aredownloaded to be installed to your hard drive onceyou find everything works. I understand the reviewerwas trying to get a cross-section of distro types,which is why he left out my #1 rated PCLinuxOS .92and my #3 rated Kanotix 2005-4 . Of course PclinuxOs .92 is tops because it is laughablyeasy to install, everything works, it can run on an AMD64computer,and best of all "right out of the box" it is aradio streaming monster. No, i don't have any affiliation.14 • RE: FC5 Test 2 Download link (by Anonymous Penguin on 2006-01-16 15:12:08 GMT from Italy)http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/test/4.91/i386/iso/

(assuming that you need i386)

Else go up in the parent directory.15 • Simply Mepis 3.4-3 Release Candidate 1 (by Eduardo Baccelliere on 2006-01-16 15:20:38 GMT from Chile)
Happy New Year for all the Humankind.

I'm looking for a simple desktop OS for my brother, who is a physician and is a non-technical user.During 2005 I installed him Simply Mepis 3.3 (alone, without Windows for avoiding virus) and every thing has gone OK.But now he wants to add an EPSON ink jet printer so it 's time to look for printer compatability.

This weekend I downloaded Simply Mepis 3.4-3 RC1 and tried it in live way. Every thing worked fine in my computer :Motorola cable modem, DHCP client networking, Internet browsing, sound, Flash, Java, printing on a EPSON CX6300 multifunction.One thing: It doesn't bring drivers for printers EPSON Stylus CX 67, 87 and CX 4100 but I think we could use a driver from another printer.So, I am wainting for the final release to make the upgrade and buy the printer.

Kind regards Ladislav.16 • Mac laptops / Linux (by just john on 2006-01-16 18:11:55 GMT from United States)
My big question about the MacBook is: What about the second (and third) mouse buttons? Is there something about the trackpad that can do that?

The big thing that makes Mandriva/KDE a pain in the ass on my current G4 Powerbook is the lack of the full set of mouse buttons.

(Yes, I am WELL AWARE that I can hook up any of a zillion external mice to the laptop, but that's counter to the concept enshrined in its very name. I use laptops by sitting them in my lap. External pointing devices aren't doable. (Sorry about ranting here, but certain idiots always pop up with that answer.))17 • Re : Simply Mepis 3.4-3 Release Candidate 1 (by ShakaZ on 2006-01-16 18:23:18 GMT from Belgium)
Hello Eduardo,

from what i know the LiveCD making the most effort to in providing drivers is Kanotix. It's based on debian unstable which is fine for a typical desktop user. By default it contains a lot of usefull tools & tweaks and the official forum can help in case your brother wants to fix an issue or get info on how to get something done. The livecd allows you to install a "pure" debian system by typing as root : kanotix-installer-latest-web.Since the last version there's also an update available to keep up with the latest Kanotix features. Between releases you can stay up-to-date by a simple apt-get dist-upgrade command.

Just try it ;-)18 • Macs last longer? (by Misty on 2006-01-16 18:42:02 GMT from United States)
I'm not so sure about that. I've dealt with old PCs often. My neighbor has a Gateway Essential with 31 mb RAM and a 7 gig HD and I was surprised at how well it works; sure, it was slow as molasses compared to my machine with 512 mb RAM, but it was getting the job done.

It seems to me that older Macs are used longer than PCs of the same age. This is due in part to the "upgrade ASAP!" mentality that MS and Intel have fostered, whereas Apple always emphasized how long-lasting and durable their machines are. Many people subscribe to the idea that old PCs are practically useless, which is untrue - even without a *nix distribution made for older machines.

So don't just throw away those old PCs if they still work. If you gotta have something more powerful, try selling the older machine on eBay. There's probably someone - likely as not a *nix user - who will want it.19 • Where is PCLinuxOS in the 'Live' list... (by nix_os_fan on 2006-01-16 19:12:04 GMT from Canada)
Like I said in the last 'Weekly' comments, I was able to get the full Nvidia driver enabled video (85Hz with smooth as silk OpenGL) with a couple of boot parameters. The sound was a bit of a challenge after installing it to the hard drive but after installing the "aoss" package, changing the driver to "snd-maestro3" and tweaking the KDE sound properties/KMix, this is one of the BEST DISTRO'S I HAVE EVER USED. Absolutely fantastic. I would actually pay a reasonable price for this distro. I was a 'Debian based' advocate, not anymore. >:-l20 • PC Upgrade Cycle (by Jason Young on 2006-01-16 21:40:57 GMT from United States)
A lot of the reason that Microsoft users had to upgrade so often in the past was that each new version of Windows actually provided more stability and better features than the previous versions, such as Windows 98 was required to use USB properly. Also upgrading from a Pentium 100 MHz to a Pentium II is a very large leap. It wasn't until processors went above 1.5GHz and Windows XP provided decent stability that upgrading continuously didn't seem as valuable to the average user.From a marketing perspective processor MHz speeds were often doubling every 18 months which means that if you bought every 2-3 years you would likely triple the MHz rating of your processor. Also many people instead of upgrading windows which was often a very unpleasant thing to do would simply opt to purchase a new machine with better faster hardware and the latest version of Windows. And also in the past the average person had less files on their computers so moving them from one computer to the next wasn't a huge hassle. Also a lot of older computers used cheap hardware that wore out quickly.Macs on the other hand had MHz speeds that increased more slowly and new versions of Mac OS were not to terribly difficult to install. Plus new versions of Mac OS prior to OS X did not really affect stability in any way one version was typically as stable as the next and the only reason to upgrade would be to enable some new functionality available only in the newer version of Mac OS. Even with Mac OS X there is no need to buy newer versions of hardware because each new version of OS X provided more stability, more features, and for many users more speed (or at least perceived speed). Also Apple has a history of touting their hardware as lasting longer and of having higher quality than their Microsoft based brethren. This marketing strategy was due in part to help them explain to customers why their products demanded a price premium over their competitors especially during the clone days. I wonder how the switch over to Intel will affect the longevity of their machines. Because from what I understand Intel is not only providing processors for Apple but also designing and perhaps manufacturing their motherboards as well. Also I believe in the future Apple will move to Intel's Xscale chips for their iPods and that this will provide them with even further discounts especially if they place a little Intel logo on the back of the iPod.Personally I plan to buy an Intel Mac sometime this fall. I've always wanted to use a Mac, but I play games that are only available for Windows. By this fall I will be able to stably boot between Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.21 • But why are we discussing Apple computers on a web site dedicated to open source (by rexbinary on 2006-01-16 23:09:22 GMT from United States)
Mac OS X is rooted in BSD and Mach, and is based on tons of open source software. I think that in itself would justify coverage of it here on DistroWatch.com.22 • NetBSD (by Anonymous on 2006-01-17 00:11:01 GMT from Canada)
As far as I know, there actually is no review of NetBSD 3.0. I agree with previous post that this should be an interesting read.23 • live cd distros (by bernard on 2006-01-17 01:31:40 GMT from Australia)
I just have to agree with the comments of (13) william m johnson and (19) ni_os_fan that not only is PCLinuxOS the best "live" cd but for me, it's also the best "installed" distro that I've ever used and I've tried a few. Yes, everything works and everything most people are likely to need is either installed or available with a couple of mouse click via' Synaptic. What's more it's artwork is beautiful. It even has BPALogin installed so that BigPond cable connection for Aussies requires no command line imput even tho' it's not a Debian based distro. All reviews I've read were raves and for newbies, geeks & even oldies like me it really is superb.24 • NetBSD (by Anonymous on 2006-01-17 01:38:31 GMT from Puerto Rico)
I agree with previous posts. A review of the latest NetBSD 3.0 will be great. Specially if it is an expert review, not the "...yeah it looks greats, and runs good...¨25 • No subject (by Anonymous on 2006-01-17 03:02:18 GMT from United States)
RE: Post #4

I'll second that nomination for Puppy Linux!26 • College Linux is dead? Buffalo Linux is dormant? (by Dave Thacker on 2006-01-17 16:37:14 GMT from United States)
This week I realized that I hadn't seen releases from College Linux or Buffalo Linux for awhile. I can't find the College Linux website any longer, and Buffalo Linux has not had an update since mid 2005. Does Distrowatch have any info on the future of these distros?Regards and thanks for another great issue,Dave27 • New DSL 2.1 (by Anonymous on 2006-01-17 16:46:22 GMT from United States)
The new Puppy rocks but you can not create a user account on a HD install. So, I tried the new DSL 2.1. BTW, You can't update this thing you have to reset to EXT3 every time and reload the boot loader. There is a small bug with multi user support. I have a fixed IP and when I log in as "DSL" I have to go through netconfig every time to use Firefox. The settings are there I just have to press enter on every screen after choosing NO for DHCP. Logging in as ROOT and creating a new user (then rebooting and logging back in) is worse. It comes up OK but everything on the menu does not work not even log out or reboot! Symantic also seems to crash when you try and update DSL. It finds 7 packages then downloads it then it errors. I'll look into it a bit farther tonight.28 • PCLinuxOS (by jimc on 2006-01-17 17:06:51 GMT from United States)
I liked PCLOS for its great application selection, for its understandable user's guide, it's great looks and apparent stability. I can't use it because it shares Mandrake's inability to burn a data CD reliably (at least on my machine with its OPTOWRITE drive) and Mandrake's refusal to write to a floppy.It also shares Mandrake's unreliable power management.29 • Mandriva 06 (by Robzilla on 2006-01-17 17:33:49 GMT from United States)
It seems we are in a bit of a lull in the Linux world. I have tested the new Mepis rc1 and it has some bugs which is to be expected. Mepis is a good distro but it seems to have lagged in the past few months. I used to be able to update my system without problems and upgrade with the Mepis and Debian pools, now it seems to be a big problem. SO I have lost interest in Mepis. No offense to Mepis fans I am sure it will get back to a good level again. I would try the fedora core 5 beta but it is a hassle downloading 5- cds when you don't have a dvd writer! Which leads me to Mandriva. I got intrested in it with my use of PCLinuxOS. Which is a fabulous free live cd! I think what the PCLinux team is doing is really great work. With that said I thought I would try the free version of Mandriva. I was impressed everything worked out of the box and no problems. One issue I had with PCLinuxOS was that after getting my system working and configured and using it a for a while it would not boot. I do not know why. I tryed fixing the install and no dice. It just did not work one day. I continued just using Windows for a while but I just hate it so I had to install another Linux system. I have tryed what seems like them all. I have my favorites and of all of the free versions of Linux that I used which are all great there was always some little problem. I will say whatever the problem was there was also freedom. Freedom of packages or configuration, etc. So I see it as a trade off. It is free and you are free to get what you want and do what you want. If I was more technically skilled I probably could have solved most or all of my issues. I have never bought any version of Mandriva. So I thought I would give it a shot. $31 for the Dicovery version of Mandriva. Free would be best but I do not have a problem paying for a quality stable pre-configured product if it works and works well. I don't think $31 is a rip off. So I installed it last night and my wireless card which has never been recognized or worked except briefly it was recognized with major tweeking in Vector Linux throught the blood sweat and tears of the support forums and developers who are really great! It still never actually worked in Vector I could just see the network but could not connect. Then When I tryed the latest beta or rc of PCLinuxOS .92 it worked. I was stunned and amazed. All this in free software! I really like PCLinux a lot, everything works out of the box and there is a lot of packages a click away through synaptic. I even got my dvd player working with one click in synaptic in PCLinux so I was on cloud nine until my system died. Then when I re-installed it I could not get it to recognize my wireless card. I tryed downloading madwifi and other ways to get it to work again but no dice!!

Now Mandriva. $31 and a few hours later to get the 3- cds. I will say the ftp server for mandriva is much faster later at night. After the download. about 20 minutes later I had a nice new system. I went straight to the configuration center and added my wireless. Rebooted and bam it works. I still have to see what is available and how I can get packages etc. As I know Mandriva has a tighter control on packages which means they will work but may not be the latest and greatest. So far I am really happy with the system. My dvd worked with no configuration at all. If there is a future in Linux for the masses then I have to say the way Mandriva is going is it. A very fast and easy install. A system that is fully functional with very little configuration right from the start. A system that is very responsive and seems very stable. I have been complaining for a while about things just not working in Linux and I was and am tired of paying $89.99 for a distro like Suse-commercial version not open version, Xandros, Linspire-complete garbage if ask me. I will not rant about Linspire as I have aready written too much but man do I hate Linspire!!! So you have free distros which may not work perfectly are free and have a lot of freedom in configuration and packaging and if you are a techy you can get it to work for you and even optimize the ditro for your hardware. For those if us not so technically inclined we struggled to get our free ditros of choice working and learned a lot in the process and love them for that. But when it comes to a simple alternative to Windows or Mac I have to say I think at least the direction of Mandriva is the way to go. Yes you can pay more for there software. To give you a good working system with a decent amount of packages for a low price is in my opinion the future of Linux. I will give an update if I still feel the same way in a month or two from now. So far so Great!! I hated the name but I love the distro!!

Robzilla30 • PCLinuxOS (by Robster on 2006-01-17 18:30:56 GMT from United States)
I have to agree with other posts here.

PCLinuxOS is if not the best LIVE CD out there, it is close! I have been a big fan of live cds for a long while. Kannotix, Mepis, Slax, and all of the others but I have to say hands down PCLinux at this point surpasses them all. At the very least it should have been mentioned whether or not it is the best or whatever it is definetily a great Live Cd for any level of user.31 • Re: 29 • Mandriva 06 by Robzilla (by nix_os_fan on 2006-01-17 19:36:08 GMT from Canada)
P.S. Of all the distro's I have ever tried, PCLinuxOS has the highest marks for the most stuff working 'right out of the box'. It didn't configure my sound correctly but after some experimentation with some typical settings and a driver change, it works just fine. Besides, you sure expect alot for free. I, for one am very appreciative of any decent, working, FREE alternative to Micro$cum. >:-P32 • Re 27 (by Anonymous on 2006-01-17 20:00:35 GMT from United States)
Check out the DSL wiki to see how to back up your settings and upgrade issues with the new release. Some of the files have chang33 • No subject (by Andûr on 2006-01-18 08:37:00 GMT from Spain)
If you use Konqueror to access distrowatch.com and disable the useragent checkbox on the browserid section, you get a nice "forbidden, you can't access / on distrowatch.com" error message. This doesn't happen if you use the mirror distrowatch.cz. Most websites can be browsed just fine with no useragent at all, so I think this to be a distrowatch.com bug.34 • RE: 33 (by ladislav on 2006-01-18 09:30:26 GMT from Taiwan)
It's not a bug, it's a feature. I've found that the vast majority of traffic without the user agent identification string are email crawlers, web log spammers, dubious search engines, and other useless traffic, so I've decided to ban them from accessing the DistroWatch web server. Java-based user agents are also banned. Those readers who don't like this policy should visit one of the mirrors.35 • MacIntels, my 2 cents (by Anonymous Penguin on 2006-01-18 17:05:18 GMT from Italy)
I had been eagerly waiting for the first MacIntels to be announced.They were supposed to be the ultimate compatibility boxes, capable to run Mac OSX, Windows, Linux...There were high hopes that they would be cheaper too...None of the above turns out to be true. You can't run Windows on it. In the near future you might be able to run some linux distros, but that is not good enough for me: I want total compatibility with *everything* created for x86 (and that is an awful lot)And the prices? You get slightly better value for your money, but have a look here:

They are really not bad value for money, but...512MB RAM as default? And 330 Eur in case you wanted an upgrade to 2 GB?410 Eur if you want to upgrade the HD to 500 GB?No graphics card upgrade available for the cheaper model? (let's be serious, who wants to buy a brand new PC in 2006 with a 128 MB graphics card?)

So if I wanted to buy one I'd *need* to go for the better model.And the price? Including all the upgrades that I consider *a must* for a 2006 computer, an horrendous Eur 2.584,01!!! That is approximately 3134 US Dollars.

Concluding: now I know that my next PC, in about one year time, won't be a Mac.The geek in me would like very much to try Mac OSX. Well, let's hope they find a way to let it run on "ordinary" hardware.
36 • Minor corrections (by Anonymous Penguin on 2006-01-18 17:11:15 GMT from Italy)
Sorry, Eur 2.584,01 should be, in English: 2,584.01And 3134 US Dollars should be: 3,134 US Dollars.37 • hardware specs (by Anonymous on 2006-01-18 18:55:59 GMT from United States)
512 MB RAM and 128 MB graphics card aren't enough? Are you a heavy gamer, doing professional video editing, or trying to compensate for some private shortcomings? Or something else I haven't thought of? Maybe running Xen with several virtual machines going at once? Even that wouldn't make a 128 MB graphics card insufficient. Or are you wanting to be sure this computer will be able to run the latest software in 10 years? Genuinely curious here.38 • RE: #37 • hardware specs (by Anonymous Penguin on 2006-01-18 19:51:11 GMT from Italy)
"512 MB RAM and 128 MB graphics card aren't enough? Are you a heavy gamer, doing professional video editing, or trying to compensate for some private shortcomings?"

"Private shortcomings"? Sorry, you lost me here. If I want a slightly better car is it because "I am trying to compensate for some private shortcomings?"Heavy gamer? I don't mind the occasional game, but even many linux games will barely run with those specs. My (almost) 3 years old PC has been upgraded to 768MB RAM (soon 1GB) and to a GeForce 6200 256MB.

"Or are you wanting to be sure this computer will be able to run the latest software in 10 years?"

Here you are getting closer to reality. Some of the default specs for a MacIntel Imac were low one year ago already. And a 160 or 250 GB HD? I have 240GB now, and it doesn't feel like a lot. I don't see why I should pay 3,134 US Dollars for a machine which is only capable of running one OS, when for about 2,000 Dollars or less I can have one with similar specs and capable of running hundreds of operating systems.39 • Re: hardware specs (by Misty on 2006-01-18 19:52:28 GMT from United States)
I believe he or she is comparing the hardware specs of the basic models by cost to what a PC with far better specs will cost. Basically, you can get a PC with twice the RAM and memory card megabytes for the same cost as one of the new Macs or even less. And "trying to compensate for some private shortcomings"? That sounds needlessly insulting.40 • Reasons for changing anaconda, in a word "yum" integration (by Anonymous on 2006-01-18 20:09:23 GMT from United States)
In the Fc5 test series, anaconda has undergone a lot of rework under the hood to integrate with yum repository support.While anaconda in Fc5 will not expose repository selection functionality to the user the shift to a yum integrate backend is an important step on the roadmap to enabling anaconda based install/upgrade repository selection support in future Fedora releases.

The ui changes that you see and comment on are probably not as important long term. as the underlying backend code changes that are going on to integrate yum into anaconda.41 • RE: #39 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2006-01-18 20:25:02 GMT from Italy)
Exactly. I believe you hit the nail on the head on all accounts.42 • RE: #35 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2006-01-18 20:48:49 GMT from Italy)
Sorry, I believe that link was only a temporary one which expired.If you want to double check what I wrote, just start from here:

(hoping that you can find your way around an Italian site)43 • No subject (by Anonymous on 2006-01-18 21:14:49 GMT from United States)
I just would hate for the FUD that that legacy operating system has been spreading, denying the advantage Linux has on older hardware, to get a voice here. I mean, my test box with a PIII 866 MHz, 384 MB RAM, a 40 GB HDD, and 16 MB videocard is positively zippy running KDE and OOo and has 4 or 5 distros installed on it at any given time. And hardware that is quite a bit weaker is still quite adequate. Even moreso if a Fluxbox, Xfce4, or even GNOME is used. I do see your point if it is solely about price comparisons, but be careful suggesting that most people really require ridiculously powerful hardware - as opposed to just saying that there are ways to get more bang for the buck.44 • RE: #43 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2006-01-18 21:41:12 GMT from Italy)
I never meant to say that you should throw away your old hardware (and yours is definitely not old)As I said my box is almost 3 years old.But if you buy hardware in 2006 you want the best you can afford, I suppose.And even less you want to be ripped off.45 • re:44 (by Anonymous on 2006-01-18 21:54:30 GMT from United States)
I suppose we just look for different things in a new machine. The main reasons I see for new hardware (note: I am not a gamer and if I were I'd use a Nintendo or something which is generally a better deal) is parts that are still covered by warranty and that have a clear upgrade path. So when I build a machine, I tend to get middle of the line specs. I tend to want less noise and lower power consumption too. For example, the Samsung 40 GB Spinpoint drives are a fantastic deal, almost noiseless and the slim design improves airflow significantly so my fans runs less.

You're right though. My test box isn't old. The two Pentium (plain ol Pentium) machines I have running Netbsd with the GUI consisting of twm and several xterms and an OpenBSD firewall probably do qualify though. (And they could run Debian too, I'm sure. But not KDE and OOo.)46 • RE: #45 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2006-01-18 22:41:57 GMT from Italy)
"The main reasons I see for new hardware is....that have a clear upgrade path."

I absolutely agree with that: you don't have to start with the best, what matters is that you can keep upgrading them for a few years (an expensive business with Macs)

As to warranties they aren't terribly important in this country, as repairs are pretty cheap (but things can go badly wrong, of course). In any case extended warranties are far too expensive.47 • Re #35 Value of IntelMacs (by rglk on 2006-01-18 23:36:48 GMT from United States)
If you want real value for your money you might want to look into the x86 Sun Ultra 20 Workstation with an AMD 64 Opteron which is dual-core-ready. It can be had for US$900, or for around $1000, if you sign up for the 3-year payment plan which also gets you 3 years of Solaris 10 support. This machine will run and multiboot Solaris, Linux and Windows and is likely to be built as well or better than any IntelMac.

All things considered, I think Solaris 10 is probably the best OS around, including for desktops, although at this point it is not nearly as easy to use as Linux.

I also think we're rapidly approaching the end of the days when Linux was much safer to use on the Internet than Windows. If you want to have your hairs stand on end, learning about the rapidly increasing threat from malicious hackers, criminal gangs and terrorists to anything that moves on the Internet, Linux and Mac OSX machines included, not to mention Windows of course, read Ed Skoudis' "Counter Hack Reloaded". Soon, there'll be a premium on ultra-secure OS's, even for ordinary users of the Internet, and garden-variety Linux distros won't make the grade but Solaris 10 and OpenBSD perhaps will.

Robert48 • RE: #47 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2006-01-19 03:02:24 GMT from Italy)
"Soon, there'll be a premium on ultra-secure OS's, even for ordinary users of the Internet, and garden-variety Linux distros won't make the grade"

How about SUSE with AppArmour or Fedora/RedHat with SELinux?SUSE can also encrypt the file system.49 • Re: Intel Inside Apple (by Walter J. Ferstl on 2006-01-19 13:34:49 GMT from Austria)
"the main problem with MacBook Pro is that it no longer uses BIOS (Basic Input/Output System)"

PowerBooks (or any other PPC-based Mac) did not use any kind of BIOS, either. Instead, they do use Open Fimware, which has been devloped by Sun and is being actively supported by IBM and Freescale/Motorola.

Also, existing PPC-Macs use their own partitioning-system called Apple Partition Table (APT), not MBR.

Walter.50 • security (by Anonymous on 2006-01-19 15:42:38 GMT from United States)
SELinux can of course be added to several vanilla GNU/Linux installs. As can encrypted filesystems. And software can be recompiled with ProPolice and StackGuard for stack smashing protection. W^X (executable space protection), MAC (mandatory access controls) ... the ways that systems can be hardened are numerous. And the big distros do provide such options. Of course, the best thing is basic awareness of your system. Know what services are running, run only services you need, isolate these services with chroot jails. Ideally run any services that are accessible to the 'net on a DMZ between two firewalls. On a desktop - not running a server - the best thing is to be sure your ports are closed, to not run as root, to download executables only from trusted sources, and to keep your software uptodate with security patches. This will protect you from the vast majority of online mischief that could threaten a desktop and no special OS (just avoid the OS from Redmond that is "special" in the sense of a slow-witted child) or even special hardening is required.51 • PS (by Anonymous on 2006-01-19 15:45:32 GMT from United States)http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/securing-debian-howto/ is good reading for any GNU/Linux user really concerned about security. But note that much of it is concerned with servers. http://www.puschitz.com/SecuringLinux.shtml is another handy article.52 • Which live CD has the best Wi-Fi support? (by rglk on 2006-01-19 18:12:56 GMT from United States)
I'm looking for a Linux distro on live CD that supports the Dell TrueMobile 1180 wireless USB adapter (issued around 2002/03, 802.11b) which I believe uses a Broadcom chipset. It works without a hitch under Windows XP.

The following distros don't seem to support it: Knoppix 4.0.2, Knoppix-STD 0.1, Auditor Security Collection 20-06-05-02, PCLinuxOS 0.92. I have the NETDELUS.int install script for the Windows driver for this adapter on the support CD, and I could perhaps use this driver with ndiswrapper, provided the latter is installed on the live CD.

PClinuxOS seems to recognize both eth0 and wlan0 during bootup, and it acknowledges the presence of this adapter. It also allows me to configure various aspects of the wireless network (in the Control Center), including picking a driver (which should I pick) but when I use the LWireless (?) utility it tells me that no wireless adapter can be found, and I certainly don't get a functioning wireless connection.

Which Linux distro that's available as a live CD is particularly good in recognizing the widest possible array of Wi-Fi adapters including hopefully the TrueMobile 1180?

Robert53 • alas (by Anonymous on 2006-01-19 19:12:47 GMT from United States)http://www.leenooks.com/Dell+TrueMobile+1180+(Broadcom+BCM4301)54 • No subject (by Anonymous on 2006-01-19 19:13:41 GMT from United States)http://www.petitiononline.com/BCM4301/55 • SUSE 10.1 Beta1 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2006-01-19 20:57:32 GMT from Italy)
Wasn't supposed to be released today?56 • Distrowatch Weekly options (by x on 2006-01-20 06:27:44 GMT from United States)
As it stand the options are at the bottom of the newsletter, which seems to appear after reaching the magic number of 50. I am wondering if there would be an advantage to placing the options at the top of the newsletter, or having the comments available as a link on the main page. After reading the articles and first few comments, I will revisit the comments section at later dates to see various responses. This activity causes me to have the newsletter load, then click on the display option to load the desired page. I think this would reduce some overhead on both sides of the transmission, if some alturnative acess method were in place. Then again would it be worth it just to satisify one or two comment reading addicts. Only your traffic monitor would know for sure.

Thanks again for making Distrowatch available to the world.x57 • Re: Distrowatch Weekly options (by Ariszló on 2006-01-20 07:30:15 GMT from Hungary)
Bookmark this link:http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=current&mode=258 • #57 (by Tim Robinson on 2006-01-20 08:10:52 GMT from United States)
I too, visit the comments often, and it would save you some bandwidth (and me some time) if I could simply bookmark the comments page or click "comments to newsletter" on the home page. As it is, I arrive on the home page, click "Newsletter," scroll to the bottom of that page, and, after comment #50, must then click again to see the comments.

BTW, because of all the comments about PCLinuxOS, I dl'd and tried it. Great distro! as already stated, everything just works. Love it.59 • Re #57 (by x on 2006-01-20 08:51:27 GMT from United States)
Your suggestion is a good one. If I were able to bookmark a link, I would bookmark the comments only option. However, I am traveling light and use others' computers in order to access the Internet. If there were a link in the heading 'Distrowatch Weekly', it would solve my problem. However, in order to justify the effort, such a change must benefit others.

I very rarely post, but I do gain insight into what others are doing and what excites or disappoints them. Ladislav has provided a very valuable tool for everyone. Choosing an operating system that fits the needs of users is actually more difficult than seems on the surface. Most work, some better than others. However, one person's best is another's disaster. So much depends on what the primary application is used for. Ladislav lets us compare the basic features of most Linux distributions, and now the BSD's, to aid in the decision making process. He also allows us to see what is going on in the development and release processes, that would be nearly impossible to track down through other current methods. I have been visiting his site from very nearly the beginning, and have only seen improvements as time goes advances.

sincerely,x60 • Morphix news? (by Anonymous on 2006-01-20 14:16:56 GMT from United States)
I realize there haven't been straightforward ISOs released but then Linux from Scratch doesn't release ISOs either. But how about some coverage of the autobuilding, with base mods now based on Sarge, Etch, or Sid. Or the daily videoclips of autobuild progress. There really has been Morphix news since 2003 but you wouldn't know from Distrowatch.61 • How about Vector? (by Robzilla on 2006-01-20 17:16:15 GMT from United States)
Looks like the new release of Vector Linux SOHO is out. A great Distro. I have not used it in a while so I am excited to see what is different in the new version. My only complaints about Vec was the VLAPT. Vector has a nice easy GUI for packages called VLAPT but I could never get it to work right. It would work sometimes. Of course going to Linuxpackages.com solved that. I would just download a package for Slackware 10.1 and Vector has a nice feature, just rightclick on the package and if it is in the right format it will install it by a simple click. So the VLAPT was a little annoying but not really a problem. Everything else was very impressive. Now they need a live CD!

My experience with Vector is a really fast and stable system. An incredibly great support forum and the developers go out of their way to help. If I could get my wireless card working I would still be using it. So maybe the new version will work. Guess I will finding out soon.

R62 • Bookmarking Comments (by Robzilla on 2006-01-20 18:18:31 GMT from United States)
As far as having a seperate page dedicated to comments I will leave that up to Ladislav. I do have the comments section bookmarked. So when I go to bookmarks I can in an instant got that section. Just bookmark the comments when they have their own seperate page and then set it and forget it!!This website is indespensible. Feedback is important as another person said one persons favorite distro is anothers disaster. How true that is and how great it is to have all of the distro's at one website with key features listed so you can compare. Then to read what most are saying about this distro or that is also very helpful. Of course there really is only one way to know for sure.

Robzilla63 • A good donation candidate? (by Anonymous on 2006-01-20 20:47:24 GMT from United States)http://lwn.net/Articles/168144/64 • SUSE 10.1 Beta1 released (by Anonymous Penguin on 2006-01-20 22:38:18 GMT from Italy)
And the interest is *huuuge*It is virtually impossible to download the torrent, a 264 KB file.And this is only a beta: can you imagine when the final is released?

I want to see who has still the guts to say that linux is of interest only to a small minority.I also wonder where SUSE is going to place itself in the H.P.D once 10.1 final is released.65 • Xandros 3.0.2 Desktop Standard Rebate (by tony on 2006-01-20 23:23:37 GMT from United States)
Did anyone see the $35.00 rebate for the latest version of Xandros Standard rebate?